scholarly journals Health Policy Issue Brief: COVID-19 in Mexico, an imperative to test, trace, and isolate.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bernal-Serrano ◽  
Hector Carrasco ◽  
Lindsay Palazuelos ◽  
Joel M. Mubiligi ◽  
Catherine Oswald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The Mexican government’sapproach to COVID-19 is failing. The strategy—to care for those that require hospitalization (20% of all cases), deliver mass communication messages, and regulate social distancing following a stoplight system for the rest of the population-is not aggressive enough for prevention. An anemic public health approach with scarce testing and no contact tracing or quarantine, has led to a sky-rocketing number of new infections and deaths. If the current trend continues, Mexico will see around 130 thousand deaths by December and a 53% annualized rate of decrease in the GDP. The government must implement a clear federal strategy to stop the spread of the virus: widespread testing, isolation of symptomatic cases; tracing, and quarantiningof their contacts. This comprehensive public health strategy with targeted social support to protect the vulnerable is a proven approach. Through evaluating other countries’ programs and extrapolating lessons for the Mexican context, we demonstrate thatimplementing testing and contact tracing for all acute respiratory infections is feasible with Mexico’s current resources. A strategy where symptomatic patients are tested and isolated and contacts are quarantined, can suppress community spread, save lives, reduce suffering, decrease the burden on hospitals, and restart the economic activity earlier and in a safer way. The more we wait to implement comprehensive testing and tracing to suppress the epidemic, the more people will become infected, and the impact of this measures will decrease.

Hong Kong: The Healthcare Professions and the Outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. 251-262
Author(s):  
Calvin W.L. Ho ◽  
Daisy Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Healthcare Profession ◽  
Healthcare Professions ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

This chapter studies Hong Kong’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hong Kong’s experience with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 helped to prepare the health system for a pandemic, allowing it to avoid a complete lockdown of the city. Social-distancing measures, aggressive testing, and contact tracing have also been critical in controlling the local transmission of the disease. However, when historians and health policy researchers look back at the early days of the outbreak, they are likely to cite the impact of the five-day strike of healthcare professionals in February 2020 as a critical turning point in Hong Kong’s initially hesitant response. The chapter then focuses on this strike and the role of the healthcare profession in shaping public health policy. It argues that the striking healthcare professionals used their standing in Hong Kong to revive the city’s collective memory of the SARS outbreak, mobilizing public action, and possibly triggering a stronger public health intervention by the government.

The complication of cyber manhunt: How cyber manhunt further complicated the ethical conflict between breaching the confidentiality and endangering the society in face of the COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Chang Chen ◽  
Yen-Yuan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Online Activity ◽  
Contact Investigation ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED While health care and public health workers are working on measures to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an unprecedentedly large number of people spending much more time indoors, and relying heavily on the Internet as their lifeline. What has been overlooked is the influence of the increasing online activities on public health issues. In this article, we pointed out how a large-scale online activity called cyber manhunt may threaten to offset the efficacy of contact tracing investigation, a public health intervention considered highly effective in limiting further transmission in the early stage of a highly contagious disease outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first section, we presented a case to show how personal information obtained from contact investigation and disclosed in part on the media provoked a vehement cyber manhunt. We then discussed the possible reasons why netizens collaborate to reveal anonymized personal information about contact investigation, and specify, from the perspective of public health and public health ethics, four problems of cyber manhunt, including the lack of legitimate public health goals, the concerns about privacy breach, the impact of misinformation, and social inequality. Based on our analysis, we concluded that more moral weight may be given to protecting one's confidentiality, especially in an era with the rapid advance of digital and information technologies.

scholarly journals Kajian Tingkat Pencemaran Minyak Bumi Akibat Pengeboran Ilegal Berdasarkan Pemetaan Sungai Sumur Dan Fisika-Kimia Air Studi Kasus : Kecamatan Keluang Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin Sumatera Selatan

PROMINE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-23
Author(s):  
Harnani .
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Oil Drilling ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Information Research ◽  
The Status ◽  
Chemical Content ◽  
The Government ◽  
Physical Changes ◽  
The Impact

Water pollution is a thing that can affect the environment, especially on health and hygiene environment around. Sub Keluang Regency Musi Betung South Sumatra known to have oil drilling wells of the Earth where illegal do not fit a common standardization is done, so worried about polluted areas the surroundings. This research aims to study and know the impact of environmental pollution due to the illegal drilling by local people, as well as provide information research results to the Government and the police to cooperate in enforcing laws that have set. To find out which level contamination using a research method that is mapping rivers and wells include deskipsi the physical characteristics, such as water color, flavor, odor, retrieval example of a sample for the analysis of physical-chemical content of the water, and the projection of the level of public health. The result of the physical identification of the water as much as 8 samples were declared contaminated. Sampling see the provisions on physical changes on either the river or the well, the results of the analysis of physical-chemical water, found many chemical compounds which exceed standard pH obtained ranged from 6.25- 8.16 and types of groundwater salt (31-464 mg/L TDS), increase the value of pH and TDS is assumed to be due to saltwater waste results from drilling for petroleum is illegal, and the presence of chemical compounds, either the main or excessive accessories in water then it can affect health, which that is evidenced by the results of the projection of the level of public health from the years 2016 to now that continues to decline. referring to the decision of the Minister of State for the environment number: 115 the year 2003 on guidelines for the determination of the Status of Water quality by the State Minister for the environment using STORET method with a score of 16 (polluted medium).

scholarly journals Epidemiological trend of COVID-19 in Nepal and the importance of social distancing to contain the virus

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Amod K. Pokhrel ◽  
Yadav P. Joshi ◽  
Sopnil Bhattarai
Keyword(s):  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Epidemiological Trend ◽  
Reproduction Numbers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Testing Case ◽  
The Impact

There is limited information on the epidemiology and the effects of mitigation measures on the spread of COVID-19 in Nepal. Using publicly available databases, we analyzed the epidemiological trend, the people's movement trends at different intervals across different categories of places and evaluated implications of social mobility on COVID-19. We also estimated the epidemic peak. As of June 9, 2020, Provinces 2 and 5 have most of the cases. People between 15 and 54 years are vulnerable to becoming infected, and more males than females are affected. The cases are growing exponentially. The growth rate of 0.13 and >1 reproduction numbers (R0) over time (median: 1.48; minimum: 0.58, and maximum: 3.71) confirms this trend. The case doubling time is five days. Google's community mobility data suggest that people strictly followed social distancing measures for one month after the lockdown. By around the 4th week of April, the individual's movement started rising, and social contacts increased. The number of cases peaked on May 12, with 83 confirmed cases in one day. The Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) model suggests that the epidemic will peak approximately on day 41 (July 21, 2020), and start to plateau after day 80. To contain the spread of the virus, people should maintain social distancing. The Government needs to continue active surveillance, more PCR-based testing, case detection, contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. The Government should also provide financial support and safety-nets to the citizen to limit the impact of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Modelling respiratory infection control measure effects

2007 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. LIAO ◽  
S. C. CHEN ◽  
C. F. CHANG
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Control Measure ◽  
Infection Control Measure ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Integrated Analysis ◽  
Potential Control ◽  
Airborne Infection ◽  
Airborne Infections ◽  
The Impact

SUMMARYOne of the most pressing issues in facing emerging and re-emerging respiratory infections is how to bring them under control with current public health measures. Approaches such as the Wells–Riley equation, competing-risks model, and Von Foerster equation are used to prioritize control-measure efforts. Here we formulate how to integrate those three different types of functional relationship to construct easy-to-use and easy-to-interpret critical-control lines that help determine optimally the intervention strategies for containing airborne infections. We show that a combination of assigned effective public health interventions and enhanced engineering control measures would have a high probability for containing airborne infection. We suggest that integrated analysis to enhance modelling the impact of potential control measures against airborne infections presents an opportunity to assess risks and benefits. We demonstrate the approach with examples of optimal control measures to prioritize respiratory infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), influenza, measles, and chickenpox.

Situating ‘careful surveillance’

2021 ◽  
pp. 136787792199745
Author(s):  
Mark Andrejevic ◽  
Hugh Davies ◽  
Ruth DeSouza ◽  
Larissa Hjorth ◽  
Ingrid Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

In this article we explore preliminary findings from the study COVIDSafe and Beyond: Perceptions and Practices conducted in Australia in 2020. The study involved a survey followed by interviews, and aimed to capture the dynamic ways in which members of the Australian public perceive the impact of Covid practices – especially public health measures like the introduction of physical and social distancing, compulsory mask wearing, and contact tracing. In the rescripting of public space, different notions of formal and informal surveillance, along with different textures of mediated and social care, appeared. In this article, we explore perceptions around divergent forms of surveillance across social, technological, governmental modes, and the relationship of surveillance to care in our media and cultural practices. What does it mean to care for self and others during a pandemic? How does care get enacted in, and through, media interfaces and public interaction?

Public Preferences for New Information on Opioids

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-339
Author(s):  
Paul F. Testa ◽  
Susan L. Moffitt ◽  
Marie Schenk
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Opioid Epidemic ◽  
Information Campaigns ◽  
New Information ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Receive Treatment ◽  
Information Treatment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
To Receive

Abstract Context: Educating the public through information campaigns is a commonly used policy approach to public health problems. Yet, experimental methods that assess the impact of information campaigns may misestimate their effects by failing to account for respondents' willingness to receive new information. Methods: This article uses a doubly randomized survey experiment conducted on a nationally representative sample, where some subjects are randomly assigned to an informational treatment about opioids while other subjects are given the choice of whether to receive treatment or not, to examine how public willingness to seek new information shapes the way they update their preferences about policies related to the opioid epidemic. Findings: Among those likely to receive information, treatment has a large positive effect on increasing support for policies that address the opioid epidemic by about one half of a standard deviation. Among those who would avoid this information, preferences appear to be unmoved by treatment. These effects would be missed by standard experimental designs. Conclusion: While redressing information asymmetries is only one part of a public health strategy for addressing the opioid epidemic, our findings highlight the importance of access to and receptiveness toward new information.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic & Bureaucracy: The Crisis Inside the Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalyn Roßmann ◽  
Heike Wegner ◽  
Hans Stark ◽  
Gerd Großmann ◽  
Andreas Jansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Outbreak Management ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
German Armed Forces ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Crisis Support ◽  
Second Wave

The Medical Intelligence and Information (MI2) Unit of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) is experienced in crisis support in military missions since several years. It gained additional experiences during the current coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on different levels of the response to crisis and was requested to share the findings and expertise with the overloaded civil public health agencies inside Germany. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the unit is constantly developing new products for crisis communication, knowledge sharing techniques in new databases, dashboards for leadership, and training for laypersons in contact tracing. Hence, trying to innovate in crisis since the first severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2-disease wave. During the second wave, the unit was requested to evaluate the outbreak management of different national civil public health agencies in southern Germany, and to support the development of dashboards in a comprehensive public health approach as a necessary start toward digitalization.

scholarly journals Review of Economic Stimulus Packages to Fight the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 124-134
Author(s):  
Waqas Mehmood ◽  
Rasidah Mohd-Rashid ◽  
Attia Aman Ullah ◽  
Owais Shafique
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Economic Stimulus ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Malaysian Government

The purpose of this study is to describe the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia and the way the government of Malaysia manages the impact of this pandemic through economic recovery packages such as economic stimulus packages. This study focuses on the effects of the economic stimulus packages released by the government of Malaysia as a response to the economic recession triggered by COVID-19. Malaysia is one of the favourite tourist destinations, and the tourism industry generates about 5.9% of the country’s GDP. However, the lockdown imposed by the Malaysian government to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected almost every sector of the economy. The Malaysian government has taken several steps to control the spread of the pandemic, such as declaring hotspots of COVID-19, imposing lockdowns, and creating mass scale awareness through social media and TV channels. The government has also deployed several economic strategies such as economic stimulus packages to help industries and the people. This study concludes that the mitigation techniques, i.e., economic stimulus packages adopted are working properly; however, some improvements are required as these techniques are inadequate to manage the transmission capability and virulence of COVID-19. Thus, more attention is required for the revival of economic activities. This study helps to obtain an insight into the effects of economic packages and how effective these packages have been in managing the spread of the COVID-19 virus and mitigating the economic recession. It also provides an understanding of how these packages will help flatten the pandemic curve in the future. This study provides information on the current COVID-19 situation in Malaysia. It also offers information on the policies and methods used by the government to solve economic and public health issues. Further, this study lays out guidelines for policymakers and government officials for the development of more effective strategies for economic recovery and public health initiatives.

scholarly journals Assessing the South Korean Model of Emergency Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
MH Kim ◽  
Wonhyuk Cho ◽  
H Choi ◽  
JY Hur
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Diagnostic Testing ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
The Government

© 2020, © 2020 Asian Studies Association of Australia. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented global public health crisis, and governments have implemented various responses with varying degrees of effectiveness. South Korea’s approach, which has involved minimal lockdown in order to “flatten the curve”, and which offers an alternative for many democracies, has attracted much attention. Based on in-depth interviews with public health professionals and policy advisors in government agencies, this article analyses how well South Korea’s response to COVID-19 complies with the expectations of good governance, and assesses the strengths and challenges of the Korean model. Our analysis shows that South Korea has been reactive rather than preventive/passive amid waves of clusters such as outbreaks in nightclubs, e-commerce warehouses, schools, hospitals and religious gatherings. The government has used a range of countermeasures, including contact tracing, diagnostic testing, media briefings and text alerts. At the same time, the challenges for the Korean approach have been concerns about privacy, fatigue over emergency alerts and politicisation.

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